nonrenewable

adjective

non·​re·​new·​able ˌnän-ri-ˈnü-ə-bəl 

-ˈnyü-

: not able to be renewed : not renewable

a nonrenewable service contract

especially : unable to be replaced or replenished once used

… most of the natural resources that we exploit for energy and minerals are nonrenewable. Once they have been used up, they cannot be replenished—at least in our lifetime.

—Sheldon Judson and Marvin E. Kauffman

A nonrenewable resource is a resource that cannot be replaced after it is used. Minerals and many fuels are nonrenewable resources.

—Dr. Timothy Cooney et al.

Physical and economic shortages of nonrenewable resources require research programs aimed at developing renewable replacement resources.

—Predicasts Technology Update

Lubbock is the principal city of the semi-arid southern High Plains of Texas, where the extensive, nonrenewable Ogallala aquifer is the major water resource.

—AAG Abstracts

Examples of nonrenewable in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Air travel depends on nonrenewable fossil fuels, and its noise afflicts communities near airports or beneath a flight path. —Amy Jankovsky, IEEE Spectrum, 30 Nov. 2023

More than 90% of paved roads in the U.S. are made of asphalt, which is constructed with nonrenewable materials such as petroleum. —Baoshan Huang, The Conversation, 8 May 2025

The government has traditionally classified it as a nonrenewable fossil fuel. —Kathryn Watson, CBS News, 8 Apr. 2025

Dispatchable energy – any type of energy that can be adjusted to fit the needs of the power grid – is often used in reference to both renewable and nonrenewable sources of energy. —Rachel McCrea, Baltimore Sun, 10 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1903, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for nonrenewable

• renewable
• reviewable
• chewable
• doable
• viewable